Where would we be today if The Library at Alexandria... Hadn't Burned

Warthog912 · Oct 7, 2005

Scientifically, we would be roughly ~1000 (*edit* maybe the dates are way off, but you STILL get the point) years ahead. Can you imagine the possibilities?

I wonder if Ceasar (corrected) realized at any point in his lifetime how much devastation he caused...

BTW It burned because He ordered his troops to burn the fleet of Cleopatra's (sp) brothers' fleet, which when the wind blew caused the fire to spread.

All of that scientific knowledge... gone-

It's incredible if you think about it, might be just me though

Nevermind...

NuclearNed · Oct 7, 2005

~1000 years ahead scientifically? Please step away from the bong.

SaltBoy · Oct 7, 2005

Monday morning quarterback... :disgust:

akubi · Oct 7, 2005

so you are like... in junior high now or something?

Warthog912 · Oct 7, 2005

Originally posted by: akubi
so you are like... in junior high now or something?

thanks for the thread contribution.

Please step down from your pedestal

Billzie7718 · Oct 7, 2005

It's Gone??? :Q

rudder · Oct 7, 2005

Its not like those books contained information on how to make a 4 ghz cpu. We would probably be maybe 10 years ahead technologically.

Warthog912 · Oct 7, 2005

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
~1000 years ahead scientifically? Please step away from the bong.

By many accounts the library burned between 50 B.C. and 100 A.D., so yeah, that would be roughly ~2000 years. Are you a believer that science didn't exist in it's modern form back then?

Sounds as if someone else NEEDS to hit the bong-

bleeb · Oct 7, 2005

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
~1000 years ahead scientifically? Please step away from the bong.

pwned!

globalcitizen · Oct 7, 2005

Originally posted by: Warthog912
Scientifically, we would be roughly ~1000 (*edit* maybe the dates are way off, but you STILL get the point) years ahead. Can you imagine the possibilities?

I wonder if Alexander realized at any point in his lifetime how much devastation he caused...

BTW It burned because He ordered his troops to burn the fleet of Cleopatra's (sp) brothers' fleet, which when the wind blew caused the fire to spread.

All of that scientific knowledge... gone-

It's incredible if you think about it, might be just me though

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria

It was not destroyed by Alexander. Some historians attribute it to Caesar. But most of the modern historians think it was being systematically taken out by the early Christians after the church decided to go on a pagan witch hunt.

sswingle · Oct 7, 2005

And no one in the world knew anything, it was all contained in the library, and when it burned, all knowledge was lost, because NO ONE knew a damn thing.

Whatever

Amused · Oct 7, 2005

Somebody's been watching Cosmos.

Merely saving the library at that time would not have saved the knowledge within. Religious forces would still have suppressed it as we later fell into the dark ages. It was doomed one way or another.

DaShen · Oct 7, 2005

They have ancient stories of asian doctors performing brain surgery back then! And Alexandria was a technology commerce at the time.

Da Vinci only had about 25% of his work survive and only now are doctors starting to take notice to some of the things he discovered that we have only recently discovered about the heart and nervous system.

It set us back quite a bit. But then on the other hand, those wars and harsh times that destroyed those works probably made humans more adaptable as well, so I don't know.

NuclearNed · Oct 7, 2005

Originally posted by: Warthog912

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
~1000 years ahead scientifically? Please step away from the bong.

Click to expand...

By many accounts the library burned between 50 B.C. and 100 A.D., so yeah, that would be roughly ~2000 years. Are you a believer that science didn't exist in it's modern form back then?

Sounds as if someone else NEEDS to hit the bong-

What are you suggesting was lost? It sounds like you think we would be driving hovercars and teleporting to Venus, but for a little fire a couple thousand years ago.

Billzie7718 · Oct 7, 2005

The people that wrote the books didn't automatically become dumb when it burned. They still had the same knowledge, it just wasn't as easy to access by other people.

So essentially you are saying "What if they had easy access to info like we do today?" ???

NuclearNed · Oct 7, 2005

Originally posted by: DaShen
They have ancient stories of asian doctors performing brain surgery back then! And Alexandria was a technology commerce at the time.

Da Vinci only had about 25% of his work survive and only now are doctors starting to take notice to some of the things he discovered that we have only recently discovered about the heart and nervous system.

It set us back quite a bit. But then on the other hand, those wars and harsh times that destroyed those works probably made humans more adaptable as well, so I don't know.

There is strong tangible evidence that cavemen also performed brain surgery to alleviate headaches. That doesn't mean that they knew anything other than how to drill a hole in the skull, thereby releasing evil spirits and killing the patient.

akubi · Oct 7, 2005

ATOT pwnage special combo

:laugh:

DaShen · Oct 7, 2005

There was a lot of medical knowledge probably lost, philosophical knowledge, masonry technology that we still haven't figured out...

A lot of the medical knowledge that wasn't destroyed, we have just began to discover in the past 100 years.

I would say we would be ahead in those technologies for sure.

NuclearNed · Oct 7, 2005

Originally posted by: DaShen
There was a lot of medical knowledge probably lost, philosophical knowledge, masonry technology that we still haven't figured out...

A lot of the medical knowledge that wasn't destroyed, we have just began to discover in the past 100 years.

I would say we would be ahead in those technologies for sure.

I've been wrong before, and I'll be wrong again. That said, I'm really skeptical that the 1st two statements have any value other than being your own opinion. A link that backs up your statement would go a long way to making me a believer.

PunDogg · Oct 7, 2005

There are many many libraries/ collections of books and knowledge that many differant people/organizations destroyed. The church did soooo much of it, Caeser, i mean you know it most EMPIRES, burned or destoryed the other peoples history and knowledge.

Dogg

Feldenak · Oct 7, 2005

Originally posted by: globalcitizen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria

Oh, how I hate Wikipedia. It sucks me in like the Discovery channel until I get to the point I forgot what originally took me there.

Mucho · Oct 7, 2005

Originally posted by: Feldenak

Originally posted by: globalcitizen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria

Click to expand...

Oh, how I hate Wikipedia. It sucks me in like the Discovery channel until I get to the point I forgot what originally took me there.

I am not a fan of wikipedia either I think there is lots of spam and people who writes article with axe to grind.

BTW there is no point in argueing about "what if"

Where would we be today if The Library at Alexandria... Hadn't Burned

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